ISTANBUL

Ukraine plans to purchase at least 1 million drones in 2024, said the nation's defense minister on Monday.

“In total, in 2024, the state plans to purchase at least one million drones. It is important that for the first time, the full real need of the military for drones has been clearly calculated and summarized,” Rustem Umerov said in a column for Ukraine's state news agency, Ukrinform.

Stating that the Ukrainian Defense Ministry ordered the first batch of first-person view (FPV) drones, Umerov said that the ministry is working on effective logistics, cheaper purchases and producing a sufficient number of combat parts.

Umerov further said that the ministry previously did not purchase FPV drones due to “the lack of clear criteria and rules for their application on the battlefield at the legislative level,” though indicating other institutions, such as the Digital Transformation Ministry, have purchased these drones.

“And this is just one example of the lack of systematic procurement for the Armed Forces. The new team of the Ministry of Defense has changed the approaches to planning the supply of weapons and rear property for the military," he said.

“Ukraine should purchase, first of all, what is needed by the military and has already proven its effectiveness. Every (Ukrainian) hryvnia should be used as efficiently as possible,” Umerov added.